Waiting to Disappear
April Young Fritz
Recommended to all teenage girls
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
It is a story of 13-year-old girl, Buddy, whose elder brother, Booth, died in a car crash two years before. Her mother has not got out of her grieving period, and soon she leaves to live in an old house. She tries so hard to bring her back, but her mom’s heart is immovable.
Buddy’s life is messed-up. She was looking forward to this summer vacations but everything, one by one, starts falling apart. She is miserable, young as she is, she is so sensitive and emotional, but very strong girl for a 13-year-old. However, his big brother, Booth, did not leave her in the dark to fight alone. He had taught her few – but very useful – things, like “Keep quiet when you have got nothing to say, hug anything that will let you, and no matter what you are doing, have a good time”. Before his death she used to have those same envious feelings a girl, her age usually has when her sibling/s is doing great in school and is an apple of everyone’s eye, but after he died, the case got changed.
Buddy has two best friends, Ginger, a glamorous, rich spoiled girl, and Verna, a poor, responsible and old-beyond-her-age girl who has a houseful of siblings to take care of instead of her vanity. Buddy takes Verna’s help to bring her mom back home.
The story shows great sense of coming-of-age, Buddy misses her brother, loses her mom and now her aunt has came to live with her – or say to take care of her. Aunt Sherry is young, and wilder than any girl half her age. She teaches Buddy many daring stuff before she go back.
This novel is full of swings of emotion, it will make you cry and smile simultaneously. You will admire late Booth for his quotes and memories. You are going to see a really typical teenager’s tale who has same problems as every girl has; BFFS, fashion /clothes, crushes etc. but the bigger problem she is facing is she has lost the only straw she was clinging to – her mother.
April Young Fritz is the author of this wee gem of a book. She started writing when she received a fountain pen on her 9th birthday. She lives in Illinois, USA. April says, “There’s something ending abut children’s books, maybe they have the power to change a young person’s life and to give comfort.”
She encourages teenagers by saying “In spite of what goes on around you, you are not alone, that you do matter in the world.”